Archive for November 10, 2017

There are some streaks in the sport of field hockey which set outside the usual bounds of what counts as a record. This year, for example West Long Branch Shore Regional (N.J.) won its league championship, the Shore Conference “B” Central, with a 10-0 record. It is the 47th straight year that Shore has won its divisional championship.

There are some others of note; last week, Emmaus (Pa.) won its 29th consecutive District 11 championship. And tomorrow, Voorhees Eastern (N.J.) goes for its unbelievable 19th consecutive state championship.

But this evening, a 33-year streak was snapped when Greenwich Sacred Heart (Conn.) defeated Greenwich (Conn.) Academy 2-1 in double-overtime to win the Fairchester Athletic Association tournament. On the play, junior forward Ryan Smith latched onto a pass from teammate Beth Yeager and it went into the goal cage.

“It was a team effort on that goal, I was just there close to the goal for the tip,” Smith said. “The first time we played then gave us confidence going into this game, because we played so well against them.”

That first game was a 3-2 Sacred Heart loss, a result which was a quantum leap forward for the program, which had been very much subservient to Greenwich Academy’s whims over the years. But no longer, and the school this year installed only the fourth known water-based artificial turf at a U.S. secondary school.

The FAA tournament is a warmup for teams before the New England Private Schools Athletic Council (NEPSAC) tournament begin next week.

Hi, everyone. With only slightly more than a week to go for the domestic season, it’s going to be very hard to knock off Mackenzie Allessie off her perch for national scoring champion. Heck, the closest player to her with games remaining is 32 goals behind.

That’s 32 goals; a dream season for some. But that’s how dreamy a career this has been for the junior from Mount Joy Donegal (Pa.).

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